Reliability and validity of the Brief Emotional Experience Scale (BEES) for mood monitoring

Abstract

The Brief Emotional Experience Scale (BEES) has been used in several studies, however its reliability and validity are yet to be investigated. This study evaluated the reliability and validity of the BEES across three independent studies. In studies 1 and 2, convergent validity was established between the BEES with existing emotional well-being instruments - The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10/K6). Confirmatory factor analysis of the BEES reveals it confirms to the same two-factor structure as the SPANE that includes positive and negative emotion. Study 3 provides an example of the utility of the BEES for monitoring temporal changes in mood. BEES scores fluctuated depending on self-reported positive and negative events during the week. Additionally, mood variability as determined by the standard deviation of BEES scores, was negatively associated with mean levels of emotion.

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“…We measured emotional and physical well-being via the Brief Emotional Experience Scale (BEES) and Brief Emotional Experience Physical Scale (BEEPS) ( Rogers, Barblett & Robinson, 2016 ; Rogers, Cruickshank & Nosaka, 2021 ; Skead & Rogers, 2016 ; Skead, Rogers & Doraisamy, 2018 ). For the BEES, participants rate how they are emotionally feeling for the adjectives Happy, Worried, Calm, Sad, Confident, and Afraid, on a response scale: (1) Not at all (2) A little bit (3) A lot.…”

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“…Participants rate these adjectives on a scale of 1) not at all; 2) a little bit; 3) quite a bit; and 4) a lot. An overall emotional wellbeing score can be calculated by averaging across the positive adjectives to create a positive score, then averaging across the negative adjectives to create a negative score, then subtracting the negative score from the positive score to provide an overall score that can potentially range from +3 to -3, where a higher score indicates more positive emotional wellbeing (23). The BEES was completed by all students at beginning of each lecture over the course of the 13-week semester.…”

“…The BEES was completed by all students at beginning of each lecture over the course of the 13-week semester. The reliability and validity of the BEES survey compared to similar emotional wellbeing instruments has been established in recent research (23).…”